In an effort to end the carnage wrought by the previous post and stop all the dying (plus it’s been a while), I’m putting something new up here. I don’t actually have anything to say, so I apologize for the lack of substance (if only Donald Trump would do the same). Anyhow, in looking for something – anything – to write about, I noticed that it was 12 years ago today that Air America Radio launched (IIRC, it started up at noon, Eastern, with the Al Franken Show, which I think was initially called “The O’Franken Factor”). Oh, how I was looking forward to that (no radio up here in the provinces carried it, and I remember the stream being very unreliable in the beginning.) I think Al locked Ann “Bebe Neuwirth” Coulter in the closet or something. Ah, those were the days. Sure didn’t last long, did they?

Speaking of Jews, I also see that it was on this day in 1492 that King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella kicked the Jews out of Spain. I guess 1492 was a busy year for those crazy kids. It’s always struck me as odd that you hear about those two together. Kind of unusual for monarchs, isn’t it? I mean, you hear of Queen Victoria or Queen Elizabeth or Richard the Fourth, but you typically don’t hear about their spouses (with the exception of Henry VIII, of course). I guess Ferd and Issy must have been quite the team.

Speaking of Henry VIII, if you get a chance you should watch Wolf Hall (based on the books by Hilary Mantel), which has just gotten four BAFTA nominations, including best actor for Mark Rylance, who plays Thomas Cromwell. The Catholics are all up in arms over it (how unusual) because it depicts Cromwell as an intelligent self-made man, and Thomas More as somewhat less than saintly. The miniseries ends with Anne Boleyn’s execution (I hope I’m not spoiling that for anybody), so hopefully they’ll do another one (poor Cromwell didn’t last even last as long as AAR after Anne lost her head).

I got to go to the Tower of London way back when, and the pain and suffering that went on there is truly palpable (though I didn’t know enough at the time to go over to Tower Hill and visit the site where everybody had their heads chopped off – it apparently took the executioner a few whacks to get Cromwell’s head off).

Today is also Al Gore’s birthday (not to mention Gabe Kaplan, Rhea Perlman, and Christopher Walken, among others). So Happy Birthday to them.

Oh well, I’ve squandered enough time and should probably get back to working on something. Let’s hope people stop dying for a while.

So, today is Earth Hour. The idea is that from 8:30 – 9:30 (whatever your local time is) tonight, everybody should turn out their lights (and as many other things as you can) as a way of “shining a light on climate action to show how much our planet matters to you.” I don’t know how much good that will actually do, but what the hell. That’s pretty much my bedtime anyway, and to be honest we mostly sit around in the dark anyway. When I say we, I mean me and the dogs, since the wife has been away this weekend (three nights of not being relegated to less than a third of the bed) doing some kind of union activity in Cooperstown (where, despite her professed complete disdain and lack of interest in baseball, she apparently went to the Hall of Fame because she sent me pictures). What she probably failed to note, of course, was that a lot of the bats on display from the olden days (like the one George “High Pockets” Kelly of the New York Giants used to hit three home runs in a single game) were made in Syracuse by the Kren Bat Company. Apparently a lot of the guys had to use Kren bats on the sly because they were under contract to Louisville Slugger.

Otherwise, not much is going on here. It’s a sunny, though somewhat chilly day, that started with the dogs deciding they really needed to go out at 3:00 AM. Of course, I never really got back to sleep after that (so lights out at 8:30 shouldn’t be a problem). I’m not feeling like I’ll be accomplishing much of anything today. Maybe I’ll get a jump on my laundry.

Yesterday was a good sports day, though. Both the SU mens and womens basketball teams advanced in the NCAAs. The women advanced by trouncing Army, which is pretty incredible when you stop to think about it. Not that they won, but that Army has a womens basketball team. Considering women weren’t even admitted to West Point when I was a kid, it’s pretty awesome that they not only have a womens team good enough to get into the NCAAs, but that it seems perfectly obvious that they should (which of course it is, but there are a lot of things that should be obvious – like that Donald Trump should never have a chance in hell of becoming President – that apparently aren’t).

Well, looks like the mail woman just pulled up to the mailbox. Now I need to decide if it’s worth the effort to make that 400 foot walk out there in the cold to get it.

At least it is if you forgot to set your clocks ahead an hour (and you don’t live someplace silly like Hawaii or Arizona or most of the rest of the world). I, for one, am happy to see this day come because I would much rather have an extra hour of daylight at the end of the afternoon, rather than in the morning. I just don’t understand why they have to do it on Sunday morning. Why not do it at 2:00 on Monday afternoon? Who would bitch about losing an hour of their Monday? And while you’re at it, make it a national holiday, too. But, once again, nobody listens to me.

Yesterday was a rather delightful day here – sunny and after a chilly start, it got up into the 60s. My wife asked me if I thought it would be safe for her to take the shovel out of her trunk. Ha! Even though it’s been a rather mild winter around here this year (about four-and-a-half feet below normal), having seen Blizzards in April and shovelable snow as late as Mother’s Day, I never take the shovel (let alone the gloves, backup gloves and snow brush) out of the car. That’s just begging for a blizzard.

Despite it not being St. Patrick’s Day yesterday, Syracuse had its annual parade, and they certainly had nice weather for it, and I expect there was a good turnout. Not that I went to it, of course. I do not, personally, love a parade (and, let’s face it, it’s not exactly NYC – or Boston, Chicago, St. Louis…). But I’m sure a good time was had by all.

I dunno about you, but I’m getting more and more terrified at the likelihood that we’re going to see a President Trump in the White House by this time next year. I know it’s normally just hyperbole when you call people a bunch of Nazis, but the physical violence and rhetoric we’ve been seeing at the Trump events sure reminds me of scenes from the Reichsparteitag der Ehre in 1930s Germany.

On the bright side, Trump said he won’t change Social Security. And he’s not one to go back on his word.

It’s only Wednesday, yet it’s been a traumatic week for me (somewhat tempered by the fact that it’s been nicely warm – we’re supposed to get to the 70s today, for the first time since last September). First there was the dreaded afternoon training session for me on Monday. Not the worst thing I’ve ever been through, but still a bit of a mind-numb waste of four-and-a-half hours. If I’m going to spend half a day not doing work, I’d prefer to do it at home.

Yesterday started off well, inasmuch as I took the day. Sadly, it was in preparation for a visit to the doctor where I was talked into (among other things) a tetanus shot (my arm is still kinda sore today, but I’ve had worse). Other than my BP being ridiculously high (and it’s been fine at home, where I take it twice a day – I made sure to bring in a copy of the spreadsheet I keep track of it in), I am apparently in reasonably good health for an old fat guy who drinks too much beer. So that was fairly good news – but the whole process is still pretty traumatic for me. And she keeps insisting that I get a colonoscopy, which I’m really not up for (plus I’ll have to find somebody willing to take me).

Then this morning as I’m trying to get my shot together to leave the house, I opened up the fridge and entire container of cherry tomatoes (and half of a diced onion) came flying out at me. OK, that’s more of a pain in the ass than trauma, but it was still annoying. Plus I have to work today, always sucks but somehow seems worse when the weather’s nice.

And Trump seems to have won, like, everything yesterday. I’m still trying to decide if that’s bad news, or terrible news. I mean, much as I can’t stand the guy, Cruz is worse. But they’d both be horrible not just for the country and the world, but for me, personally (which is really what it’s all about).

What horrors can possibly arise tomorrow?

This has been a rather long week for me, and truth be told, it’s not actually over since I’m on-call and on the hook 24/7 until next Monday morning (not the one coming up, but the one after that). As if that wasn’t bad enough, they’ve gotten it into their heads that we should do some team building/customer service nonsense thing on Monday afternoon (gee, never been to one of those that wasn’t an incredibly worthwhile use of my time ) and then on Tuesday I have a doctor’s appointment for a “physical.” This is not something I’m looking forward to, since I know it’s going to involve an offer to stick a finger where I’d just as soon not have one, and some other demeaning coughing and groping. This will be on my mind all weekend, and I guarantee you I won’t be getting much sleep (not that I ever do these days).

To take my mind of off things, I’ve been looking at Canadian Real Estate and getting information on how to go about immigrating. It appears my best bet is to apply for “Express Entry,” which requires taking a language test (in English and/or French). I’m pretty confident of passing the English test (a four-part deal – speaking, listening, reading, and writing, all of which I’ve been doing in English for quite some time now), but they don’t give it online so I’d have to go to Canada (the closest place to me apears to be Kitchener, ON, which is quite a hike) to take it. Plus it costs $265 (though that’s only about $198 US). Worth it, I guess, if it can get me out of here before President Trump is sworn in.

I’m really not liking Clinton’s chances of getting elected (the media seems to have nominated her already, so I guess that’s that). Perhaps I’m just a nervous Nellie, but I can’t help but feel they’ve got 20 years of shit saved up to throw at her – and I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t toss out some bullshit indictment to hang over her throughout the general election campaign cycle. I also don’t think you’ll see a lot of enthusiasm from people (especially the younger folks) for a Clinton presidency, so I fear a low turnout. And low turnouts are great for getting crazy people elected.

What’s worse is, I’m not even sure that Trump would be the worst Republican to get elected. I mean, Cruz? Rubio? Or Saint Romney swooping in at the last minute to “save” the Party?

God, what a revoltin’ idea.

So, I hope I’m wrong. Either way, I intend to avoid all the campaign ads as much as possible for the next eight months or so. I mean, things are pretty gruesome in a normal election year – can you imagine what the Trump ads will be like? I’m guessing he’ll take negative campaigning to a new (decidedly lower) level.

It aint gonna be pretty.